Tag Archives: ‘sales training’

At the heart of every sale is a thorough fact-find. You’ll want to unearth the needs, the wants, and the desires of your prospect so you can present your products and solutions in a way that will be of benefit to them. And the only way that you can do this is to ask quality sales questions so you can really find out what their current situation is, what their requirements are, and what they are looking to achieve.

Remember, your prospects want a good listening to, not a good talking to! They don’t want to just sit there listening to your monologue of why your products and services are the best. A prospect wants to know that you understand their situation in detail.

Chances are, your competitors are asking questions, but they’re only skin deep. Instead, you need to drill down to the root causes of the issues your prospects face at a much deeper level and demonstrate your expertise on the subject.

Here’s a comprehensive list of 100 sales qualifying questions you can ask buyers to get intimately familiar with their situation and formulate potential solutions.

A wise sales trainer once told me that you can always find the answers, provided you ask the right questions.

Becoming proficient with qualifying questions, that you can easily add to your conversation, is a vital sales tool that will put you miles ahead of your competition.

In fact, I would say if there was one single factor that determined if someone was going to be an okay sales person or a superstar sales pro, it would be their ability to ask qualifying questions and then LISTEN to the answers, for indeed these answers are the most important piece of information your prospect can give to you.

It seems that I get calls daily from vendors that dive immediately into their pitch, without ever taking the time to ask me what I WANT..or more specifically, what I NEED

What is the one thing that I desire above all else when it comes to telecom services, payroll services, etc. etc.? On the rare occasion that someone actually does ask me my favorite question, they earn the most valuable thing that I have to offer…my time, to share my unique set of circumstances, and then my attention in listening to their proposed solution.

Take the time to read and commit to memory this list of 100 sales questions that will help you qualify your prospects needs, pinpoint their pain points, and then enable you to come to the rescue with your solution.

It’s one of the most common questions salespeople ask: “How do I overcome a tough objection?” The answer may come as a surprise — you don’t. When a prospect or customer throws a tough objection your way, your job isn’t to “overcome” it. Why not? Because traditional turnarounds are completely ineffective.

Here’s what a traditional “turnaround” sounds like: “Bill, I have to tell you, other people said the same thing about our delivery times, until they saw how we could blah blah blah … ” Typical salespeople will try to defend and justify their position, and that kind of comeback is combative and adversarial. And the prospect rarely believes you or changes their mind.

This short post suggests changing your perspective from aiming to ‘overcome objections’ to the theory that ultimately, only the prospect can overcome an objection, not the salesperson.

Learn how to ‘reverse the direction of the conversation ‘ so that you can uncover the true concerns and ultimate pain points of your potential client. Only then can you honestly say if you can offer a viable solution, and address how your unique solution can help your targeted audience.

This strategy takes practice. Read on to learn how to get started, and specific verbiage in learning how to re-position the dialog when a prospect presents an objection to moving forward.

After a long day at the office, Netflix is usually more appealing than cracking open a sales book or streaming a sales training video on YouTube.

Fortunately, there’s a simpler way to learn new sales techniques without having to set aside extra time in your day — through podcasts.

The next time you’re walking the dog, commuting, exercising, cleaning, or doing any other task that doesn’t require mental energy, pop in your earbuds, press “Play,” and learn from sales leaders and experts.

A career in sales should entail an ongoing quest to perfect your selling skills. A true sales person is always hungry to perfect their craft, and to add to their skill set. Here is a terrific list of 13 quality podcasts that you can easily plug into at your convenience, to learn some valuable selling skills.

No matter what industry you’re in, you’ve likely received some form of, “Why should I do business with you?”

When most salespeople hear this question, they go into tap-dance mode and immediately list all the reasons why they’re great: “Our company is the best, our service is outstanding, we’ve been around for 100 years, and we have the best quality.”

Of course, your prospect expects you to say this, because your competitors are using this same response.

Think about it — everyone claims to have the best quality and service, even if it isn’t true. Read on to learn how you can switch up your approach, dominate the competition, and capture your prospects’ attention when they ask, “Why should I do business with you?”

Fantastic article that highlights the wisdom of flipping roles between a sales person and the potential customer. By switching things up and rather than immediately going into your sales pitch, by first insisting on qualifying the buyer, in order to verify that you truly understand their pain points and can honestly deliver a solution, puts you miles ahead of your competition.

The pen is mightier than the sword. Which is good, because you probably don’t want to threaten prospects into buying at sword-point.

As the primary “weapons” to convert prospects into customers, words are incredibly important to salespeople. How sales reps deliver their messages and converse with contacts can have a dramatic effect on the outcome of a conversation. Using the wrong phrase might cast a negative shadow on the proposal, while tweaking just a few words in the pitch might induce a client to buy immediately. The underlying message is certainly critical, but the words used to deliver it are equally so.Get 25+ sales experts’ playbooks for free. Reserve your seat at Inbound Sales Day today.

That’s why all salespeople should become word nerds. Here’s a list of 13 words that can help you close more deals and earn your prospects’ trust in the process.

Check out this powerful list of words that will help you get a positive reaction from your prospects. Becoming aware of the tremendous power of words, and the negative or positive effect word choice can have on your audience, can result in substantially improved results when consistently implemented.

In terms of sales techniques, there is a lot of “conventional wisdom” out there that, in reality, doesn’t help you make the sale. Here are five of the best sales techniques that really work, as well as five classic go-to selling techniques that may, in fact, be hurting your sales efforts.

Today’s buyers have dramatically changed from decision makers from even 15 years ago, and to effectively sell to them, sales professionals need to change the way they approach decision makers. It amazes me how many veteran sales professionals are still attempting to influence buyers with methods that may have worked ‘back in the day’ but are woefully inadequate in today’s market. #salestechniques

We all intuitively know that sales is a numerically predictable endeavor. Once you get your delivery smooth, it is always a matter of numbers, and understanding your metric is the key to accurate forecasting. I thought this article offered some terrific tips in increasing the variables that can dictate if you starve or thrive in the wonderful world of sales. Becoming really good at reaching out to NEW potential clients via prospecting for new business is ultimately the key to success!